Florida Nuclear Plants Ready to Shut Down as Dorian Threat Looms

(Bloomberg) -- Florida’s two nuclear plants are ready to shut down if forecasts show hurricane-force winds hitting the facilities when Dorian finally moves on shore.

Both plants -- St. Lucie, north of Palm Beach, and Turkey Point, south of Miami -- sit on Florida’s Atlantic coast, and both lie within the possible path of the storm.

Their owner, NextEra Energy Inc.’s Florida Power & Light, has been preparing since Monday for the possibility of shutting down the plants, said spokesman Peter Robbins. It’s poised to do so once forecasts predict hurricane-force wind speeds at the sites, he said.

“We do it in advance,” Robbins said. “We don’t wait.”

Dorian’s path, however, remained uncertain enough Friday that FPL hadn’t yet made the decision to power down. “We’ve seen the path and intensity of the storm change a lot,” Robbins said. “Like most hurricanes, it’s got some tricks up its sleeve.”

The company, Florida’s largest utility, temporarily closed both facilities in 2017 as Hurricane Irma bore down on the state. Should FPL shut down the plants for Dorian, they would remain offline until the storm had passed and the facilities had been inspected, Robbins said. The company also would consult with local and federal officials before restarting operations.

“It’s a coordinated thing,” Robbins said. “We don’t make the decision by ourselves.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David R. Baker in San Francisco at dbaker116@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Kara Wetzel, Virginia Van Natta

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